Publicity Bomb - It Happened ToDay

It Happened ToDay

Publicity Bomb

March 19, 1842 - Balzac's Publicity Stunt Backfires.

Honore de Balzac, one of France's most distinguished writers, gambled and lost on this day in 1842.

Hoping to draw attention to his new play - Les Resources de Quinola - Balzac spread a rumor that the play had sold out. Unfortunately, his disappointed fans stayed home instead of trying to bust down the doors to his "sold out" theatre.

Though his early writing career was unsuccessful, Balzac had become a respected writer in France by the 1830's and worked tirelessly on his 90-novel series - La Comedie Humaine - until his death in 1850.

Hoping that everyone is no longer green around their gills
we offer for your consideration Four Quotes for ToDay:

Work is the curse of
the drinking classes.
- Oscar Wilde

When I read about the evils of drinking,
I gave up reading. - Henny Youngman

An alcoholic is someone you don't like
who drinks as much as you do.
- Dylan Thomas

The intermediate stage
between socialism and
capitalism is alcoholism.
- Norman Brenner

~ ToDay is the 79th day of 2008 - 287 days remaining ~

Selected other Odd Notable & Historic events that Happened ToDay:

• 1279 - A Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China.
• 1571 - Spanish troops occupied Manila.
• 1628 - The Massachusetts colony was founded.
• 1644 - 200 members of the Peking imperial family/court committed suicide.
• 1687 - French explorer La Salle was murdered by his own men while searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, in the Gulf of Mexico.
• 1702 - Upon the death of William III of Orange, Anne Stuart, the sister of Mary, succeeds to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.
• 1748 - The English Naturalization Act passed granting Jews right to colonize in the U.S.
• 1822 - The city of Boston, MA, was incorporated.
• 1831 - The first bank robbery in America was reported. The City Bank of New York City lost $245,000 in the robbery.
• 1895 - The Los Angeles Railway was established to provide streetcar service.
• 1900 - Archeologist Arthur John Evans began the excavation of Knossos Palace in Greece.
• 1903 - The U.S. Senate ratified the Cuban treaty, gaining naval bases in Guantanamo and Bahia Honda.
• 1908 - The state of Maryland barred Christian Scientists from practicing without medical diplomas.
• 1915 - Pluto was photographed for the first time. However, it was not known at the time.
• 1917 - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Adamson Act that made the eight-hour workday for railroads constitutional.
• 1918 - The U.S. Congress approved Daylight-Saving Time.
• 1920 - The U.S. Senate rejected the Versailles Treaty for the second time maintaining an isolation policy.
• 1931 - The state of Nevada legalized gambling.
• 1945 - About 800 people were killed as Japanese kamikaze planes attacked the U.S. carrier Franklin off Japan.
• 1945 - Adolf Hitler issued his "Nero Decree" which ordered the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands as German forces were retreating.
• 1947 - Chiang Kai-Shek's government forces took control of Yenan, the former headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party.
• 1949 - The American Museum of Atomic Energy opened in Oak Ridge, TN.
• 1953 - The Academy Awards aired on television for the first time.
• 1954 - The first rocket-driven sled that ran on rails was tested in Alamogordo, NM.
• 1963 - In Costa Rica, U.S. President John F. Kennedy and six Latin American presidents pledged to fight Communism.
• 1965 - Rembrandt's "Titus" sold for $7,770,000.
• 1968 - Students at Howard University students seized an administration building.
• 1977 - The last episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" aired.
• 1979 - The U.S. House of Representatives began broadcasting its daily business on TV.
• 1981 - During a test of the space shuttle Columbia two workers were injured and one was killed.
• 1985 - IBM announced that it was planning to stop making the PCjr consumer-oriented computer.
• 1987 - Televangelist Jim Bakker resigned from the PTL due to a scandal involving Jessica Hahn.
• 1990 - Latvia's political opposition claimed victory in the republic's first free elections in 50 years.
• 1994 - The largest omelet in history was made with 160,000 eggs in Yokohama, Japan.
• 1998 - The World Health Organization warned of tuberculosis epidemic that could kill 70 million people in next two decades.
• 2002 - Actor Ben Kingsley was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.

Thank you for reading It Happened ToDay, hope you have a great day ToDay!